Torres Strait cultural values linked to the sea: development of Indicators for managing traditional marine resources (T3.1)

Task leader: Dr Judith Fitzpatrick, consultant.

The protection of the traditional way of life and livelihood of the traditional inhabitants is implicit in the objectives of Torres Strait Treaty and the Marine Strategy for the Torres Strait. Marine planning in Torres Strait needs to encapsulate both Treaty arrangements with Papua New Guinea and the regional marine planning process required by Australia’s Oceans Policy. However, there has been little effort to develop planning objectives and performance criteria that assess the effectiveness of management measures to incorporate traditional/cultural values. To develop a performance assessment system, the marine resource components of traditional/cultural, social and economic value to Torres Strait peoples need to be identified.

Judith will work with the Indigenous peoples of Torres Strait to describe the social, economic and cultural values of their major marine resources. The project will develop a process to identify components of marine resources which have traditional significance for these peoples.

The process will be used to help develop operational objectives and cultural indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of management actions and policy frameworks to incorporate cultural/traditional values at the community or local level. This information will be useful to assess how management strategies, particularly implementation measures, will need to be customised to reflect differences in the region (i.e. for different Islander, PNG, Kaurareg peoples).

Objectives

• To identify the major marine resources and activities which have cultural and associated social, economic and historical values to maritime tradition and customs of Torres Strait Indigenous peoples.
• To develop draft cultural indicators for these values with examples as described by stakeholders for use in community-based marine planning and management purposes.
• To make recommendations about how these cultural and associated values and customary practice could be incorporated and implemented into community-based management plans for marine resources.

Outcomes
Develop a performance assessment system for managing marine resources which:

• Identifies the most significant marine resources and activities of social, cultural and economic value to the Indigenous peoples of Torres Strait
• Proposes performance criteria, including operational objectives and cultural indicators; and
• Provides recommendations that incorporate cultural, social and economic values and related customary lore practices into relevant policy and community-based management plans.